The fine art of punk rock hairstyles. French documentary footage from the early 1980’s.
 

 
As if you needed it: PUNK NOSTALGIA ALERT.

In the early ‘80s, Black Flag were at the center of the controversy about punk rock violence that hung over the hardcore scenes in L.A. and nationwide.

Two elements seemed at work here. First were the media reports about punk violence fueled parental hysteria, and likely prompted parents of rebellious teens to call the cops on shows that would probably have turned out fine. Second was the actual risk of potential injury at L.A. punk shows. This typically led ad hoc scene spokespeople to defensively compare violence levels at punk shows with those at metal concerts or football games. It also caused plenty of serious internal hand-wringing (mostly in punk ‘zines) about “scene unity”—which now of course just seems like naïve tribalism. 

This Reagan-era concern over local teen and twenty-something violence seemed completely bemusing at a time of mutal assured nuclear destruction and adventurous foreign policy.

Obviously, Black Flag shows weren’t sedate affairs. Of my two encounters with the band in the early Rollins era, one featured a quick half-stampede away from the stage and towards the door, while the other comprised watching a riot unfold outside a sold-out Flag show with the Ramones. Black Flag would eventually settle into the proto-grunge route to self-destruction in 1986.

Looking at it from an era in which more severe and socially tangible violence happens routinely at hip-hop shows, and punk is now fodder for a Broadway musical, Black Flag’s problems seems like they occurred less at another time than on another planet.

Here’s a 1981 segment from the local L.A. news show 2 on the Town.
 

 
Joe Franklin was the king of latenight television in New York City. I watched his show religiously during the late 70’s/early 80’s. After a few shots of Jack Daniels and half a dozen lines of Peruvian flake, there was nothing more mesmerizing than the loopy surrealism of Joe Franklin. His stream of consciousness raps, fractured and deliriously deft, coupled with his vast knowledge of TV, music and movie trivia, was like listening to the Akashic Record of 20th century pop culture being transmitted through an Elf on meth. Franklin was a character in a David Lynch movie before David Lynch had even made a movie. He was a trip. And punk rockers loved him.

Here’s a wonderful clip of Joey and Marky Ramone on The Joe Franklin Show. As you will see, Joey is somewhat in awe of the genius of Joe. This was aired in 1988.

I gotta give props to Joe’s sidekick, bug-eyed deejay Paul Cavalconte, for being ultra-hip, despite The Smiths question.

 
New Yorker Judy Linn’s photographs of Patti Smith are an indelible part of the collective consciousness of Patti’s fans and admirers. But, the Dylan one is new to me.

A book of around 100 black and white photographs Lynn took between the years of 1969-1977 of Patti, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sam Shepard, Gerard Malanga, among others, is being published next March by Abrams.
 

 
More of Linn’s photographs of Patti after the jump…

The women of Crass: Gee Vaucher, Joy DeVivre, Eve Libertine 1982
 
A couple of Crass things of note this week:  The first fruit of their long planned remastering/repackaging program aka The Crassical Collection emerges this week (although I can’t find anybody selling this in the states yet, unfortunately) with the first Crass LP The Feeding of the 5000.

After many years of being out of print, this legendary album has been been restored from the original analogue studio tapes, repackaged and bolstered by rare and unreleased tracks, and stunning new artwork from Gee Vaucher, who has lovingly created what could only be considered a real artefact. Included in this package is a 64-page booklet featuring all lyrics along with extensive liner notes from band members Penny Rimbaud and Steve Ignorant, which shed light on the making of the record. Also included is CD-sized recreation of the iconic original fold-out poster sleeve.
‘Five thousand’s a crowd (four thousand nine hundred and ninety nine more than I imagined were going to buy the record), but two’s company (I knew for certain that my Mum would want one), so it was on the plate, ready to serve, The Feeding of the Five Thousand’. ‘We were setting out as purists: hard, uncompromising and utterly bemused’. ‘On one thing we were very clear, in bringing a prosecution of Criminal Blasphemy against us the authorities would have been giving us the kind of publicity which overnight would have made us a household name. They were aware of this, and so were we. It was a situation that allowed us carte blanche to say pretty much whatever we wanted without any real fear of incrimination, a situation which over the next seven years we exploited to the hilt’. 

Epic want ! The other epic thing is this lengthy new interview with Penny Rimbaud which reveals some surprisingly bitter battles between the players accompanied by some fantastic, never before seen photos (two of which I used in this post).
 

 
Below: a fan vid for one of the most striking tunes on Feeding of the 5000

 
ANARCHY AND PEACE, LITIGATED:A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE IDEALISTIC PUNK ICONS CRASS, AND WHY IN 2010 THEY ARE GOING TO COURT OVER SOME TOTAL BULLSHIT (Vice Magazine)
 
THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND - REMASTERED EDITION (picadilly records)
 
Crass previously on Dangerous Minds here, here and here

 
In the first half of this video mix, Elvis sings the sultry tune “Crawfish” (written by Ben Weisman and Fred Wise) from the movie King Creole. Part two is Johnny Thunders and Snatch’s Patti Palladin doing their take on the song. Both versions are ultra-groovy and share a similarly soulful vibe. Elvis got out of New Orleans alive, Johnny did not.

 
New York’s The Groupies were badass. Infamous for their live shows, but unable to get a break when it came to their recording career, the band never achieved the success they deserved. This was mainly due to the fact they were in constant self-destruct mode. ‘Primitive’  was released in 1966 on, believe it or not, Atlantic records. The song went nowhere. Too fucking hip. This is one of the greatest garage rockers of all time. No question about it.

In the first video, a perfect marriage of garage to grind, Blaze Starr emanates her goddess-like powers and your world will never be the same. In the second, The Cramps do their take on ‘Primitive’ with subliminal Jello at the top.
 

 
The Cramps get primitive after the jump…

 
For friends and fans of John Lurie, there’s a disturbing article in the current issue of The New Yorker . The title of the piece is ‘Sleeping With Weapons’’ and it’s a strange and sad tale. John has been in hiding for the past 18 months to avoid a former friend who is supposedly stalking him. In addition, he has a mysterious illness that has kept him a virtual prisoner in his apartment for the past six years, until now.

For those of you unfamiliar with Lurie’s history, he’s been a significant and prolific member of New York’s downtown art scene since the 1970s. His band The Lounge Lizard’s were at the forefront of the late 70s New York ‘no-wave’  music scene. He starred in Jim Jarmusch’s pioneering indie film Stranger Than Paradise, along with more than a dozen other films. He hosted TV’s Fishing With John, has done film soundtracks and is a highly regarded painter. Now his own life has taken on a melodramatic turn that seems like a performance from hell.

The alleged stalker, John Perry, was Lurie’s closest friend. The two had a serious falling out and Lurie feared that Perry intended to kill him. John fled New York and for awhile moved into the Big Sur home belonging to Flea, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bass player. In October of 2009, he moved to Palm Springs, California. He’s been incognito ever since. His relationship with Perry sounds like a romance turned extremely toxic, but Lurie has made it clear that this was no love affair. The dynamic is weird, to say the least. What the hell happened? It remains unclear.

I’ve crossed paths many times with John since the during late-70s and John’s no shrinking violet. This is not the kind of man who is easily intimidated. So, there must be something seriously wrong to compel him to leave his home and hide out. I noticed in the past year that his Facebook messages were often angry rants that sounded like he was in the throes of either drink, exhaustion or deep frustration…perhaps all three. I knew there was a problem. He has since deleted his original Facebook page and replaced it with another. Strange behavior for a man who has always managed to handle being in the public eye.

Proving that you’re the target of a stalker is difficult, particularly if you’re male. According to friends who have spoken to him in the past year, Lurie wants his nightmare to go public because it’s the only way the cops will take the whole thing seriously. On the other hand, is John Perry actually stalking Lurie? And why hasn’t he been heard from? How much of this is in Lurie’s head?

You can read the article at The New Yorker’s website but you have to subscribe. Pick up the print addition or wait until it pops up on the internet for free. I’ll publish a link to the full article on Dangerous Minds once it becomes available on the net.

Here’ a scene from Jim Jarmusch’s Down By Law featuring Lurie and Tom Waits, followed by a Lurie interview on French TV and The Lounge Lizards performing live in Germany in 1989.

 
Lounge Lizards and Lurie interview after the jump…

Legendary rock journalist, performer, novelist and countercultural gadfly since the 60s, Mick Farren discusses his newest book, Speed-Speed-Speedfreak (Feral House). Elvis Presley, The Hell’s Angels, Hunter S. Thompson, Truman Capote, the Beatles, Hank Williams, the Manson Family, Jack Keroauc, Johnny Cash, JFK, Adolph Hitler: all of the above were, at one time or another, to put it bluntly, speedfreaks.
 

 
Manhattan cable television in the late 70s/early 80s was a viaduct for some of the wildest shit to ever invade the American airwaves. From porn to rock and roll to goofy infomercials and call-in shows, it was some of the most fun to be had at 2 a.m in the morning in NYC. If you weren’t actually in the clubs, bars and sex pits of Manhattan, you were watching it on cable.

Paul Tschinkel’s Inner Tube may have been low rent, but it was one of the grooviest TV rock shows in the history of the medium. On a zero budget, Paul managed to capture the raw energy of what is arguably the last great era in rock and roll. He filmed seminal performances from musicians like Klaus Nomi, Lydia Lunch, DNA, The Contortions, Johnny Thunders, The Blessed, The Cramps and many many more.

Here’s 12 minutes of great footage of The Cramps at the Mudd Club in 1981. If you were living in Manhattan at the time, you could’ve watched it on the tube.

Lux, Kid Congo, Nick Knox and Ivy.

Warning; this kicks in loud, so adjust your speakers or risk waking up the neighbors.

 
I took some home movie footage shot in San Francisco in 1968 and added some music to it. The result: punk rock hippie shit!

 
In this news clip from the Dallas ABC news affiliate we see the borderline hysterical coverage of The Sex Pistols gig at cowboy dancehall The Longhorn.

I love the marquee with ‘The Sex Pistols’ hovering over Merle Haggard’s name. That would have been one hell of a double bill.

It’s amusing to hear people complain that they had to pay $3.50 to see what was in effect a historic piece of music history. The date was January 10, 1978.

Texas punk band The Nervebreakers opened for The Pistols that night and recently re-united to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their once-in-a-lifetime gig. I’ve included some video footage of them playing in Dallas last year.
 

 
See footage of the Pistols Longhorn show and a recent Dallas performance by The Nervebreakers after the jump…

 
Thanks Kristian Hoffman !

 
‘One Potato, Two Potato’ was filmed in 1981 by an anonymous Austrian artist and punk rock musician who reputedly went mad during the shoot and killed the actors and hung himself while film was rolling.

Rumors of ‘One Potato, Two Potato’s’ existence flourished within the snuff underground, but no one had actually seen it. The film suddenly surfaced in December of 2008 on eBay and was quickly snapped up by a mysterious Austrian collector of the bizarre and occult.

Dangerous Minds obtained a copy of the video from black market sources in Turkey and after consulting our legal team have decided to share this controversial film with our audience. Viewer discretion is advised.

 
thankyou al bird dirt

 
Derf Scratch, a founding member of Los Angele’s punk pioneers Fear, died on July 28. Derf (Frederich Milner) formed Fear with lead singer and vocalist Lee Ving in 1977.

Fear was one of the best punk bands to come out of L.A. They were musically solid, intense and had an outrageous sense of humor. Their songs were confrontational, nihilistic, lewd : throwing satirical jabs at the punk scene, political correctness, feminism, gays, Christians, anything that moved.

Derf left the band in 1982 shortly after Fear released their debut album on Slash Records. It was not an amicable split. He and Ving had fallen out over work habits, drugs, ego. He sold his Fender bass to Mike Watt of The Minuteman and dropped out of the music scene.

Derf died of an undisclosed illness.

For a thoroughly entertaining interview with Derf check out citizen mag